Overview

The Choir with No Name runs choirs and builds joyful singing communities with homeless and marginalised people, around the UK. Currently, there are six choirs: in Birmingham, Liverpool, London, Coventry, Brighton (run in partnership with BHT Sussex) and Cardiff (run in partnership with The Wallich). We were founded on the premise that singing makes you feel good; it distracts you from all the nonsense in life and helps you to build confidence, skills and genuine, long-lasting friendships. Our choir members are people who have experienced homelessness, or who are simply going through a tough time in their lives.

“I’m so happy to have found CWNN. It’s made such a difference to me. I’ve broken a 25-year cycle with drugs and honestly, I don’t think I could have done it without the choir. I’m not existing anymore, I’m living, and that’s huge.”

- Richard, choir member

We have recently received funding from the National Lottery to build our participation programme to support choir members and people from the wider community work together to create safe, accessible and inclusive choir communities, as well as contribute to the national direction of the Choir with No Name. We are looking for someone to take on this exciting new role to lead the development of our participation programme at a national level as our Community Participation Manager. This role will work with our six current choirs and build a foundation for all future choirs.

As an organisation, we are committed to moving towards greater co-creation of choirs with people with experience of homelessness. This role is a crucial part of this journey.

This role could be for you if you come from a background of volunteer management, client involvement, participation, or co-production.

We are an equal opportunities employer, and firmly believe that each team member can provide a unique perspective and valuable contribution to the lives of the people we work with, and applications from individuals are encouraged regardless of age, disability, sex, gender, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, ethnicity, religion or belief. We particularly welcome applications from people with lived experience of homelessness. We follow an anonymous recruitment process.

Reports to: Head of Programmes.
Contract: 3-year fixed term contract with potential to extend.
Hours: Part time, 22.5 hours a week (3 days), flexible and compressed hours possible.
Location: Remote with potential to work from the Sheffield registered office, with colleagues in Sheffield, London, and Colchester. Some UK travel to projects required. Must be UK resident/taxpayer.
Annual leave: 25 days per year pro rata (rising with length of service) + UK bank holidays.
Salary: £35,360 pro rata.
Benefits: 6% employer contribution pension, Employee Assistance Programme, home working allowance, flexible hours.

You can download the full job description at the bottom of this page.

Job description

Participation framework

• Carry out a skills audit across all our choirs to understand what skills are needed to run each choir with greater involvement from choir members, facilitated by choir managers. This will include discovering what skills choirs have amongst their existing member and volunteer communities, and what support and training could be shared.
• Research other organisations’ participation frameworks and volunteer programmes to identify ways in which the Choir with No Name can learn from others in the sector.
• Identify a range of tasks, roles, and responsibilities (being clear about the distinction between the these) that members and people in the community can take part in to support the running of the choir, along with the training they would need to do so.
• Identify healthy ways to step down from roles and responsibilities.
• Design and pilot a framework of roles, responsibilities and tasks, and associated training and support, before rolling out nationally across all our choirs.

Existing volunteer programme

• Evaluate our existing volunteering programme, listening to our volunteer team about their experience as a volunteer, identifying areas for development.
• Develop the existing volunteer programme to support and value volunteers and to incorporate our new approach to co-creation and co-production.
• Work with our existing volunteers in a transition from the current programme into the participation framework, whilst continuing communicating the value and importance of volunteers within the Choir with No Name.

Manage volunteer communications

• Develop and manage accessible communications to ensure volunteers are equipped with the tools they need to do their roles (training, policies, support) and feel valued (thanks and recognition for their hard work). This could include:
  • A regular email to volunteers
  •  An online portal for volunteers to access whenever they need
  • Regular meetings for volunteers to keep them up to date with what is going on in the organisation and to                          share practice

Volunteer recruitment, induction, training and data

• Lead on national volunteer recruitment and support local recruitment carried out by Choir Managers.
• Develop, with choir members and volunteers, a training programme to support roles within choir. This training should come in a range of forms, and where possible, led or informed by choir members.
• Manage volunteer data, including developing our data management system (currently Monday, but we are considering using Plinth), ensuring:
  • Inductions are completed consistently and reviewed for long term volunteers.
  • Training is implemented and kept up to date.
  • Volunteer data is managed in a central database so we can effectively communicate, track and            understand our impact.
  • Reporting on volunteer numbers and other information is provided to the Senior Management Team and    board.

Other

• Support the development of the Board Experience Programme and the Member Advisory Panel, led by the CEO and Head of Programmes.
• Work towards the Investing in Volunteers or Kings Award for Voluntary Service.
• Carry out any other duties as may be reasonably required by the Choir with No Name within the scope of the role.

Experience/skills

Essential:

• Demonstrable skills and experience in project management
• Good listening, information gathering and research skills
• Skills and experience in at least one of the following:
  • volunteer management
  • client involvement
  • co-production
  • participation
  • community development
• Ability to synthesise and represent multiple viewpoints
• Experience and comfort in working with data and databases
• Understanding of the needs of people with experience of homelessness and/or demonstrable knowledge and understanding of people who have lived through trauma.
• Good written and verbal communication skills
• Experience in facilitating and leading group sessions and workshops with different stake holders
• Ability to lead online sessions and use zoom and teams effectively

Desirable

• Experience of leading change within an organisation or culture

Personal requirements

Essential

• Ability to work evenings and weekends occasionally
• Willingness to travel
• A desire to be part of a committed and hardworking team working in alignment with the values of the Choir with No Name.
• A self-starter who can work with a high degree of autonomy.
• Good at managing multiple priorities and remaining calm under pressure.
• Consistently work with integrity and confidentiality.

Desirable

• A love for music and singing

HOW TO APPLY

In the interest of a non-biased approach to recruitment, all applications will be anonymised before they reach the selection panel.  We are not, at this stage, asking for information about your work experience or education, we are only seeking the answers to questions that will demonstrate the skills required to deliver the role. 

We are particularly interested in applications from people with lived experience of homelessness.  An interview will be offered to anyone with experience of homelessness who demonstrates the essential criteria for the role through their answers to the questions below. If you have lived experience of homelessness, please flag this in your email along with your application answers.

Please follow these steps:

1. Copy and paste the questions below onto a separate Word document.
2. Answer the questions, trying not to use more than 300 words per question. 
3. Don’t put your name or any identifying information on the document. 
4. Email the document as an attachment to info@choirwithnoname.org, by 9am on Fri 19th April 2024.  Include your phone number in the email. 

If you have access needs that make any aspect of the application process difficult, please contact us at info@choirwithnoname.org and we will make reasonable adjustments.  You can also use this email address if you have any questions about the process. 

If your answers are among the ones that show the best demonstrations of the skills we’re looking for, we will be in touch to invite you to an initial interview. If you haven’t been successful, we will inform you by email.   

Thank you so much for your interest in working with us at the Choir with No Name and good luck with your application!

APPLICATION QUESTIONS

Try not to use more than 300 words per question – thank you.  Don’t feel you need to use the full word limit if you can answer more succinctly.

1. Why are you interested in working with the Choir with No Name and why now?
2. Tell us about a project you have managed with multiple stakeholders. What did you do that made it work?
3. Please provide an example of a volunteer, participation or involvement programme you have delivered, explaining the context, what you did and the outcome, including any key challenges along the way.
4. Describe a work-based example where you have had to use initiative to solve a problem. What was the outcome?
5. Using your experience and understanding, why is coproduction important?